Prepare To Make The Jump To Light Speed

I took the Falcon outside for a road test today!

I spent all winter giving the Hyperdrive a steel heart and this was the first test of the new design.

The Hyperdrive’s Steel Heart 

The original Hyperdrive design had lots of twists and turns, so the frame has many mounting points, some of them adjustable for tensioning.

The final configuration coupled the front and rear wheels together in a simple way.

The road test revealed that the rear sprocket deflects under high torque enough for the rear wheel chain to fall off. We’ll need to shift the frame’s location to the right to fix the problem.

Steering

We’re using handlebars to turn the wheels. They mount to the seat tube of the driver’s side bike frame. A steering rod connects the handlebars to a linkage down near the front, left tire.

I made the steering stem adjustable, so people of different sizes can pilot the Falcon. But there’s slop in each of the two universal joints and the sliding joint. Because of that, the handlebars have a lot of play. I can move it 5-10 degrees  without affecting the tires. I think l’m going to put in a fixed length steering rod, but I also need to source stiffer universal joints.

Pedal Rear Derailleurs

The pedal’s rear derailleur also needs some work. Its attachment point isn’t stiff enough, so the chain falls off intermittently when in the lowest gear. I also think the width of the bike chain I got is too thin, causing it to stick on the derailleur. I’m going to try a slightly wider chain to see if there’s a difference.

One Good Test

The one highlight was testing the low gear by climbing a 4 inch curb!

The Falcon was also going uphill (and that rear tire looks a little low). Once I resolve the remaining issues, it’ll work even better.

May the 4th be with us!